“Choose, this day who you will serve”

Does the Christian life seem to you, as it does to me, a constant battle for my heart and affections? How powerfully we are reminded that there is a war in this life between the old, sinful nature, and the new, regenerate nature through Christ. At every turn we are bombarded by the flesh to construct idols, and then to worship them. John Calvin once remarked, “the heart is a factory for idols”. Yet we know from Scripture God will not (and should not) tolerate idolatry in the lives of His people.

So what are we as believers to do in this mortal battle? How do we contend against our flesh and the battle to remove idols from our heart? As with so many things, it is by a mind informed by the Scripture, a will affected by such knowledge, and a reliance on the Holy Spirit to enable us to make those right decisions, and to put away our idolatry. Anything can become an idol! If any decision does not lead us to the glory of God, it is idolatrous. We must always be on guard to make the right decisions, and in so doing please God, and not ourselves.

Below is a simple chart that I picked up and modified from a NANC Biblical Counseling Conference in 2006. I hope that it helps in giving you a visual model to think through when next you are faced with a decision.

Here is a brief explanation, starting at the bottom of the chart:

1) The battle ground is our heart.

Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”

2) As we proceed through life we are faced with decisions, temptations, etc. that reveal our heart at the point of decision. We must protect our hearts and cultivate right thinking that will promote God’s ways.

Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

3) When coming to the point of decision/temptation we will go to one of two sides: Truth oriented or desire oriented.

These two are always in conflict. Truth acts on “what I know to be right”. Desire acts on, “what I feel”.

At this point we will make a decision.

4) One option is to go with desire. This choice is easy at first because it “feels right”. However, as you know, our feelings are often rooted in our sinful nature and cannot ever be trusted because our flesh is at war with God.

Because choosing desire over Truth is placing something else above God it is idolatrous and is in violation of God’s rule in our lives. This road will never ultimately be an easy road.

Proverbs 13:15 “Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is hard.”

5) The God-honoring option is to choose based on Truth, on what pleases God. This choice more often than not is hard at first because it goes against the grain of our flesh, our culture, and against our chief adversary, Satan. However, regardless of our feelings which cannot be trusted, we must learn to follow based on Biblical Truth/principle. Unlike our desires which are so often wrong because they are rooted in the flesh, God’s Word is never wrong because it is rooted in His unfailing holiness.

In the end, these decisions based on Truth make life easier because we have pleased God and put down our flesh.

Matthew 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

6) In either case, our decisions to pursue our choices in one way or another breed habits
that either aid us or harm us as we strive to follow Christ. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we were in the habit of exercising ourselves toward godliness, instead of away from it? Wouldn’t life be better if we moved toward more automatic and intimate fellowship with Christ?

7) We do all of this because it is what we were created to do. First, we were created for fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. But that ended in man’s failure to choose God/Truth over desire. (Funny that, even in a state of perfection man’s free will always chooses to fight God. Hmmm! Do we think we can do better today? Thank God for His action alone on our behalf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

However, after the Fall we have been given a new opportunity to fellowship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. It is in that context that we have been created in Jesus Christ to make right decisions that we may have fellowship with our Father.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them.”

I John 1:3 “that we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have
fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Lastly we were created to do this for God’s glory and His pleasure. We must remember that in making the right choices, by placing Him on the highest place of our mind and heart we bring Him greatest glory and find for ourselves the greatest joy!

II Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”

The Power of the Cross

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows
His head.Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.

by Keith & Kristyn Getty
In Christ Alone - NEW RELEASE!

The Pain and Promise of Perseverance

“But if I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name," Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.” – Jeremiah 20:9

In a day where Truth is increasingly passé, and even hated, we as people of God must remain encouraged in the battle. I have been challenged again by the words and wrestling of the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet who blows all of the contemporary paradigms of “successful ministry”, as he labored and wrestled through the agony of discouragement because of his call to proclaim the message of God. If we are truly the people of God we cannot allow ourselves to fail or give in to the “sweet promises” of retreat, compromise, or quite. Now is the time for the people of God to rise up with greater confidence than ever and fight through our proclamation of Truth for what is right.

If truly called, then ceasing in our labor means the following pains to us:

1) Our enemies will mock our God and us

Why can we not afford to keep silence in loving and lifting the Truth to new volumes and heights? Because those who have heard us will see not only us, but our God as disingenuous and fraudulent. We cannot afford to back down because God’s reputation is on the line! I love the words of David in I Samuel 17:46 as he stared down the giant who had caused the armies of the living God to cease and run,

“This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”.

There is something refreshingly bold and tough about the words of a man who is so confident in his God, and his God’s message, as he looks his enemy in the face and spells out move by move what he is about to do. Why does he do this? So that that there will be peace in Israel? No. So that all will adore him for his bravery? No. Is it so that all the world will be impressed? No. The sole purpose for David’s bravery and perseverance for God in the face of overwhelming opposition is stated simply and powerfully for this reason, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,”. He simply put out the message and let the chips fall where they may. At the end of the day however, one thing is certain, no one will mock us or our God if we, like David remain faithful to the task at hand.

2) Our inward pain will make of us a broken and smoldering misery

Jeremiah knew and preached that the Word of God is like a fire and a hammer (Jer. 23:29), burning and leveling everything in its path. How painful to attempt to hold such a force inside. He contemplated the allure of quitting, but at last realized that this would only intensify his pain. Is the temporary mocking of this world and its temporal people really worth trying to bridle the omnipotent Word of Creator God? Jeremiah knew the answer: NO! If we believe this world to be to difficult try the burden of an unfaithful life. It will literally burn you out and drive you to the point of destruction. Paul echoed the same reflection of the internal torment for being egligent in our responsibility to preach the Gospel in I Cor. 9:16, “Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!” The temporary relief is only short-lived at best!


Knowing then the pain of withholding the Truth, what is the promise of faithfully delivering the message regardless of how it is received, or even if it is received?

1) The Lord is with us as our champion

Just as David learned, when we are obedient, bold, and faithful, we won’t fight the battle alone. Jeremiah says that God is with us as our “dread champion”! He is not some equal, He is the dominating force of the universe fighting on the side of His Truth! Honestly, who doesn’t want a front row seat to watch this fight? That is the promise of faithfulness in proclaiming Truth. We will be active witnesses in watching our God accomplish all His will with might and power!

2) Our enemies will be crushed

Blurring the battle lines is never a good thing, in fact it is always a dangerous thing. As for me, I want to stay as far away from the enemy as I can because of this promise. God is going to crush them, and I don’t want to deceive anyone, including myself, as to which side I am on. God will deal with them! They will be defeated and exposed, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that promise. In fact, I want to be part of the delivery of that promise through proclamation of the Truth. I want to ride behind my conquering King as His faithful soldier, but that will never happen if I shut my mouth and suppress the message that must be preached!

All this to say that we have no option but to faithfully and fearlessly proclaim that which alone pure, powerful, and ultimately victorious! May we by God’s grace know the promises of perseverance!